Pre-market: Nifty seen opening flat; may retest 8200 levels

NEW DELHI: The 50-share Nifty index is expected to open flat on Tuesday, following muted trend seen in other Asian markets. Tracking the momentum, the index may retest its crucial psychological level of 8200 in trade today.

At 07:30 a.m., Nifty India stock futures in Singapore were trading 5 points lower at 8,206 indicating flat opening on the domestic market.

The index finally closed 1.1 per cent lower at 8213.80. It hit a low of 8202.35 and a high of 8334.45 in trade today. For the year, the index has plunged nearly 1 per cent, wiping out entire gains made in the calendar year 2015.

Nifty continued to maintain its lower high lower low formation on daily chart. The index closed at fresh 3 month closing low of 8213.80. In the process, Nifty has also crossed below the 200 DMA placed at 8251.03 as of closing of 24.4.2015.

"Nifty now has immediate support now placed at 8165, and below it, a correction could take it further down to 8050-8120, corresponding to calendar year lows," GEPL Capital said in a report. "The near term resistance is now placed at 8300 - 8385 levels," added the report.

Cautiousness at the start of F&O expiry week and not so encouraging earnings from corporates such as ICICI Bank weighed on the sentiment.

The benchmark index, Nifty, has now reached near to its very crucial support of 200 days of Exponential Moving Average(EMA) on the daily chart, which currently lies around 8180 spot.

"And, its breakdown or sustainability would decide the future course of action in the market. So, traders should maintain extra caution around the current level and wait for clarity," says Jayan Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities Limited.

Overnight, US stocks ended lower, led by losses in biotech shares. While, Asian stocks scaled fresh seven-year peaks as Apple's upbeat results offset underlying caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled to start later in the session, said a Reuters report.
"Analysts expected no change in policy stance from the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting starting later on Tuesday, as recent domestic data have been weaker than forecast and a strong dollar has crimped export activities," added the report.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.17 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,037.97, the S&P 500 lost 8.77 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,108.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.84 points, or 0.63 percent, to 5,060.25.

Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 index which was trading 0.64 per cent higher at 20,111, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading 0.1 per cent lower at 28,399, and China's Shanghai index was trading 0.24 per cent lower at 4,516.